Crazed
by titansfan1211
Summary: Psycho. Robin thought he left that particular nickname in Gotham. Old friends come to the tower, but what happens when someone exploits this side, of him, which he thought was dead as you-know-who? will he be able to keep his mind? Titans/BatmanXover
1. Chapter 1

*Ello! Thanks for reading this! Just saying:

I do NOT own the teen titans charecters or batman charecters, or anything here accept the plot.

also, in one part below, anything italicised in the brackets, [], is the person on the other end of the phone. Only the person talking to then knows what they're saying, no evesdroppers.

_Teen Titans,  
Due to some... odd decisions made by your team, Such as Cyborgs smal rampage, Robin's short aprenticeship, some of the residents of the city have come to question your sanity and abilities to help us, instead of casue more trouble. Some don't trust easy. So this is why Dr. Leslie will be coming to conduct some evaluations on your daily lifes. She will __interview each one of you individually at different times during her visits. This evaluation will take up to no more than a month, and we ask for your you for complying. Dr. Leslie will start coming to evaluate each of you starting tomorow.  
__Again, thank you for your cooperation,  
The Mayor  
P.S.  
All information from the evaluation will be kept confidential._

Robin read and reread the letter from the Mayor, making sure he understood its contents. "Uh, guys? could you come here? I think we have a problem..."

The rest of the titans complied, meeting their leader in the living room. "What is it man?" asked Cyborg. Robin held out the letter so Cyborg could read it. "No way! They can't do that! Can they?"

"They can, and they are." stated the ever logical Raven. "It actually makes lots of sense. Who would want to be protected my someone who was mental? It could put everyone in the city in danger. Besides, now we can find out if Beastboy has ADHD, and if Robin is as crazy and OCD as we think he is." she dead panned. Everyone laughed at her rare joke, except for the ones mentioned in it.

"Whatever. As long as we comply, Dr. Leslie or whomever should be gone in no time. I'll be in my room." Robin started walking out.

"Dude! Where are you going? We have a total crisis here!" Robin rolled his eyes.

"It's not a crisis, Beastboy, it's a psycyatrist. I'm just going to uh, do research, and stuff. You know... make sure she is a real doctor, that Leslie lady, and not some criminal. You know? Uh... later."

After he walked out of the room, Cyborg muttered, "You gotta add paranoid to his list."

"I still don't like this!" screamed Beastboy. "I don't want some stranger looking at my brain!"

"What brain?" asked Raven, earning a few smirks. "This might be a good thing though. Maybe we'll be better able to understand each other once we're evaluated."

The others nodded in agreement, until Beastboy burst into laughter. "Dude! That is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard! He he he he he!" He was quickly shut up when Raven gave him a nice hard slap to the head. "Oww!"

"Wait a second, I just thought of somthing," announced Cyborg. "If the mayor just told us the doctor, Leslie was coming, how can Robin research this person? I know he's Batman's lil protogee, but even he can't research someone not knowing their last name!" The others thought about that for a moment.

"Then what is Robin doing? He must have been lying about his 'research'?" asked Raven.

"Perhaps he had overlooked that bit of information? I do not believe our friend would lie to us so dulley."

"Uh, Star, I think you mean bluntly. But yea, I agree with Raven. I wana know whats going on."

"DUDES? Have you all gone crazy? Robin is our LEADER, and he goes to his room and you all QUESTION his honesty? Seriously! Robin's our friend!"

"Well, I guess we'll all find out tomorow." Each titan went to their own respective room, accept for one. Cyborg stayed, and just to see how many results would come up...

"Ok, lets see you do magic google!" He mumbled, "Doctor Leslie, and... go!" His jaw dropped to the floor. 3,420,000 hits. WOW. "Man, there is no way Robin could've researched all of them!" he exclaimed. He walked down the hall towards Robin's room, but stopped right outside the door when he heard voices. It sounded as if Robin was talking to someone over the phone. Cyborg heard a few snipets of the convorsation, from Robin's side.

"Hey Spoiler, it's me"... [_Tim? Hey! Long time no see! How are you all? No more crissises or impending doom?]_

"Yea, yea were all fine"... [_Any other psyco villains try to make you their aprentice recently?]_

"NO! I have NOT been controlled by another villian! Sheesh"... [_Well sorry for caring! I was just asking!]_

"I know"... [_Any other psyco adults buggin you?]_

"Bruce maybe, that's actually why I called"... [Y_ou want me to get him? I can forward this to his communicator. He'll be back from patrol soon.]_

"NO. If you could figure it out, that would be good"... [_Kay. Watcha wana know?]_

"Just wana know if a certain BAT is trying to control my life again"... [_How so?]_

"I'm just wondering if he sent-"... [_Lez?]_ "Yea, so you heard of that?"... [_Of course. I don't think Bruce has, though]_

"So can you find out?"... [_I'm not so sure I can...]_

"Come on, Steff! Please?"... [_I'm not good at that kinda techy stuff. Why don't you ask Oracle for help?]_

"No WAY am I asking Barb for help! She'll just tease me about how Dick could've hacked the Bat Com from here! Or how she could've hacked it from France!"... [_I guess, but her job **is** to look up info...]_

"Yea, I know, she IS the one who's working on the Bat Computer daily, but still"... _[Yea, she can get kinda annoying sometimes...]_

"Could you at least try?"... [_I don't know. Does Babs ever leave the Batcave? I'm pretty sure she lives here.]_

"Oh come on, you are SO exagerating. Oracle has to get her lazy but off of the computer at some point, she can't stay there forever. But then again knowing her"... [_Why don't you just ask Bruce?]_

"NO WAY. I CAN'T ask him! What if he **isn't** the one who set all of this up, and the **mayor** realy _does_ want us to be evaluated? If Batman knows other people have questioned my sanity, you know for a **FACT** that he will come here and drag my sorry ass back to Gotham, then check me into Arkam!"... [_Right... I'll visit you!]_

"Oh, gee, thanks Spoiler. That would be _great_ to be the only one in Arkam getting visitors! Seriously?"... [_Visits are the best I can do!]_

"Whatever, thanks anyway. Do you think Cassie would be able to-"... [_She can barely figure out how to get her communicator to work! Besides, she's out right now.]_

"Right, I forgot she was on patrol. So, you sticking as Spoiler now, or jumping back and forth being-"... [_Being who? Batgirl? Robin? Nah. Cassie's taken over as Batgirl, and I have my own identity. YOU are Robin. NOT me.] _

"Yea, I guess you're right."... [_You sound upset by that.]_ "No! It's not that, its just, after Dick left, Jason came, after he...left, I came. When I went... uh, missing... you came. It just seems like there always was a Robin in Gotham."... [_Not always. Before Dick came, there was no Robin. And there is no Robin now, but there are tons of new heroes in Gotham. Things change.]_

"Yea, I know, things change... do you ever think..."... [_What?]_ "Never mind, it's stupid." ... [_What_?] "What it would be like? If we never became heroes?"... [_Yea, but this is always the best scenario]_

"Yea, I guess the other version of our lifes wouldn't be so great now would they? I'd probably already be dead or in jail right now, and you'd be working with your parents as an..." ... [_assassin? Nah, I became a hero becuase of rebellion, but this life is growing on me. Would you ever change it?]_

"No, I wouldn't trade this life for anything. Well, besides that one little incident with...J_- him_." ... [_anyone would. It's ok, it's all over now.]_

"I just can't believe that I almost killed Bruce! After all he'd done for me! If Barb hadn't talked some sense into me..." ... [_You wouldn't have though. I understand how you feel about the one you did kill...]_

"No! You DON'T get it! I KILLED him! Ok? It's all my fault!" ... [_No! You weren't in a full state of mind. And he's the one who kidnapped you and... did all of that to you.]_

"Yea, I know he's the one who turned me into that monster" ... [_yea, so it's his fault not yours.]_

"No, it's still my fault. I'm the one who pulled the trigger-" ... [_well, think of all the lives you've saved by getting rid of that menace!]_

"I can't think about the lives I've saved because of killing him! Even if he was alive, he would've made peoples lives hell, but we could've _stopped _those murders. What scares me is that Bruce never _tried _to stop me..." ... [_he was hurt, and trying to get some sense into you. He just didn't want your mind lost forever. You were insane then...]_

"I KNOW I wasn't sane then, ok? I was a MONSTER, you think I didn't know that? He played me like a card! He tourtured me! He forced all of our secrets out of me! Then he turned me into that... that _THING _and broke my mind!" ... [_But you've learned to control that side of you. He won't come out.]_

"He almost got out once..."...[O_h... well, I gotta go, Bruce is pulling in. I'll call you if I find anything out about Lez, ok? Bye.]_

_"_Kay. Bye Steff."

After that, the room went silent. Cyborg snuck down the hall, into his room. He thought to himself, '_What on earth is going on with that kid? I gues we'll find out tomorow..." _and went to sleep.


	2. A major discovery

The next morning, Robin walked in expecting to find the usual morning scene. Cyborg and Beastboy fighting over breakfast (tofu or meat) Raven on the couch reading, and Starfire playing with Silkie. Instead, he found four curious friends waiting for him.

"Mornin Rob."

"Morning Cyborg."

"Have anything you'd like to tell us?"

"Not in particular. Should I?"

"I don't know, just wondering..."

Confused, Robin walked over to the kitchen area and grabbed a water bottle. As soon as he started drinking it, Cyborg asked, "So, how's your girlfriend?" The poor boy immediately started into a caughing fit, and looked up at his friend.

"Excuse me?"

"How's your girlfriend? What's her name... Steff, or somthin?" He raised an inquisitive eyebrow, as the rest of the titans oggled on, curious by the exchange.

"Oh, Stephany. She's fine. But we're JUST friends. She is NOT my girlfriend. Well, anymore... Wait... how did you...? You were the one spying on me!"

"You knew I was there?"

"I thought someone was there but blamed paranoia."

"So, who else were you talkin to?"

"Just her."

"Really, cuz you called someone Spoiler too. Unless her and Stephany are the same person?"

"Look, I just called up Gotham to see how things were going with a few friends, that's all."

"You talk to Batman?"

"No."

"Really? And why is that?"

"None of your buisness!" seeing the curious stares he added, "But uh, he _was _on patrol."

"You must've had a lot of friends in Gotham. You mentioned quite a few names."

"What is this? An interrigation?"

"Well, I was just wondering if I heard some things correctly."

"Well why don't you just ask? You already admitted to evesdropping."

"Ok. For starters, why would Batman be questioning your sanity, or draggin you to Arkam?"

The boy wonder glared at the metal man. "Because of some _issues _in my past, which I'd rather _not _bring up."

"Like that man you killed?"

Robin stared at the metal man with such intensity, it made the infamous batglare look like a pouty four year old before answering, "I don't have to answer that."

"Like hell you don't! We have the right to know if under that mask you're a murderer! Or wanted by the FBI!"

"It's none of your buisness who I am under this mask!"

"Oh, but it's Stephany's? Whether she's Spoiler or not, you were talking to her about Batman, and the Batcave and all this other hero stuff, so you're obviously pretty close."

"Your point?"

"How come she knows who you are under the mask, but we don't?"

"You just don't understand!"

"Why not? Why wouldn't we get it?"

"Just-... never mind!"

"Who did you kill?" silence hung in the air, until Robin responded.

"It is not a _who _that I killed, It is a _what._ I killed a monster, because of what it did to me, to my family, and what it put me through! If anyone here would understand what happened," he looked up. "It woud be Beastboy." When all eyes turned to the shapeshifter, who was watching him, Robin gave a little smile, tilted his head to the side, a blank look on his face. Beastboy's eyes grew wide, understanding.

"You're the kid..." he mumbled, and Robin nodded as he left the room.

"Now why wouid the lil grass stain know anything about _understanding _a murderer? Hey! Get back here!"

"Cyborg." Beastboy stopped the furious man. "What he means is, that I started working as a hero around the same time as him. I know all the 'hero gossip' from back then. And if I'm right... well, lets just say i don't blame him for killing who he did."

"Well couldja clue us in on why Robin is exempt of this murder?"

"He saved many lives by killing this monster."

"Could you please tell us what's going on?" asked a ticked off Raven.

"A few years ago... there was a story going around that..." he sighed. "At the time, we thought it was a rumor. A story to keep us kid heroes out of trouble, if that makes any sense."

"Please, what was this story?"

"Have you all heard of the Joker?" they each nodded. "There was a rumor going around a few years back, that the Joker was hoping for a kid of his own, someone to take his place once he died. His girlfriend, Harley Quin, didn't want to go through child birth or somthing, so they decided to... adopt. Rumor had it that Joker had kidnapped someone, and turned him into..."

"Into... what?" asked a worried Raven. "JJ, or Joker Junior." they each gasped in surprise.

"Thats... thats just... _horrible._"

"Yea, I know." he shook his head. "I used to have nightmares just thinking of the possibility. Then I heard another rumor. That the kid that Joker and Harley had kidnapped, was a super. We all thought of the possibilites. A second Joker was bad enough. But one with super powers?" he shuddered at the possibility.

"Once we thought about it, we realized it probably wasn't a super kid. at the time, the only young superheroes had been Robin, Speedy, Nightwing, Batgirl, Wondergirl, Supergirl, Stargirl, Kid Flash, Aqualad and me. And a couple others that were just starting out. But then, Nightwing had too much experience to get captured by Joker. Kid Flash would've been to quick to be captured unless REALLY surprised. Joker probably wouldn't have gone messing with Supergirl or Wondergirl either, considering who they're related to. And it wasn't me.

"That left Robin, Speedy, Batgirl, Stargirl, and Aqualad. Only Aqualad had powers. Stargirl just has some magic staff and armor, plus she was just starting out." he stopped his story. "Once we saw pictures, we stopped trying to figure out who he was. Whoever Joker had kidnapped, hero, or normal, super or human..." he paused, trying to think of a humane way of putting it.

"Joker didn't just turn the kid into a mini him. The kid was too stuborn for some chemicals to work on him. First, he tourchered the kid, electrocuting him on higher and higher voltages, until he told Joker everything he new about any heroes identitys, along with his own... but that wasn't enough. The Joker messed with this kids brain with help from Harley, who used to be a therapist. They _broke _this kid. And once the kid was broken... he had nothing to loose. No reason to keep fighting. The abuse lasted three weeks, until Joker sent Batman a message... that should've clued us in, but we were all too scared... the adults wouldn't tell us what was going on... Batman and Batgirl found the kid. He was an almost exact replica, wearing a purple jumpsuit, green hair, and bleach white skin. I saw a picture of the Joker Junior when I was spying, trying to find out what was going on. Joker had sent all of the heroes with kids or sidekicks a message: 'Consider this a warning.'" Beastboy looked up at his friends, hands shaking.

"That picture... it was the absolute scariest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. Besides looking like the Joker, this kid... he was smiling, but only had a few of his teeth. Joker had knocked the rest out. And even though he was smiling... in his eyes, was this absolute expressionless look. Completely blank." He shook his head.

"So, that was a nice little horror story, but... what does that have to do with Robin and murdering someone?" asked a clueless Cyborg.

"That kid, the one Joker did that to... when Batman and Batgirl came to save him, they knew who he was. Us kids never were told, because the adults didn't want us to think differently of them... Joker wanted him to kill Batman, who had just faught Joker, and was on the ground. Batgirl had tried talking to him at one point, but went off fighting with Harley. He was torn. He had remembered Batgirl, and remembered Batman, his old life as a hero. But he was still partially crazy. Thanks to Batgirl helping him find that one last string of insanity, instead of killing Batman... he killed the Joker."

All was silent. "And that kid... was Robin."

*Ahhh! Suspense! please review! :)


	3. tours and memories

All was silent. Each of the titans made the motion to start talking more than once, but no words came out. Eventually, Raven found her voice. "If... If that was Robin... what... how... uh...?"

"Did he become sane again?" she nodded.

"I heard some doctor helped him. It took over a year, but eventually he got back to normal. It all makes sense now, Robin being the kid that Joker... well, the year or two after Batman found the kid, there were lots of rumors about Batman and company. one was that Robin had... attempted to commit suicide. I guess he tried it before he was fully sane. There was another thing going around, that because of his suicide attempt, Robin had been replaced by some girl. I think she's the same one who became a replacement Batgirl for a couple weeks a year back. Spoiler, or somthing?"

"Aww man!" everyone turned to Cyborg. "I feel like such a jerk! He obviously didn't want us to know about this, but I had to go dig it up! And when he was on the phone... I heard him say, 'it almost got out once'. What if that thing, that insane part of him, can come out? And when _did _it almost come out?" Everyone thought about that, a little more scared, besides Raven.

"Cyborg, are you _trying _to scare them? Obviously, he meant whatever beastboy hides in his closet almost got out." Everyone laughed at her rare joke.

"Yea, I guess you're right Rae. He could've been talking about anything."

_But I wasn't... _Robin thought, as he listened just outside the door. _At least they aren't questioning Raven's logic and planning what to do if I loose it..._

"What about that time with Slade and that dust though, Raven? He didn't seem too sane then. What if it had come out? What would we do? We don't exactly have Batman's number."

"We would contact Nightwing. He is only two cities away in the Bludhaven, and less illusive thent the Batman, yes?"

_Spoke too soon. I guess calling Dick wouldn't be so bad. If anyone, I could count on HIM to not tell Bruce... and it's not like he isn't hold a grudge agains Joker too... wonder if he still has marks from that bullet... at least he has a decent alibi, being the one non-corupt cop in Bludhaven... _

Robin was about to go and join his friends, when he heard the front doors opening. _The only one who would use the front door without blowing anything up would be..._

"Lez? That you?"

"Yes. How have you been, Tim?"

"Good. It's great to see you! I haven't seen you in forever! How's it been in Gotham?"

"Busy. There always is someone who needs medical attention."

"That's Gotham."

"So, where are your friends?"

"They're upstairs."

"Could you introduce me to them?"

"In a few minutes. I wana make sure they're done... discussing."

"May I ask what?"

"They found out."

"About wha-oh."

"Cyborg was evesdropping while I was talking to Steff. Beastboy knew about the whole... incident and told them about it. Last time I listened in, they were talking about how to contact Dick if It ever gets out."

"Not Bruce?"

"Nah. Too much work to get him here."

"Well of course, he is on the other side of the country... but I'm guessing that's not the sense they were talking about?" she asked, an ammused tone coming to her voice.

"Eh, you know Bruce. Not really the sociable type. Here, I'll show you arround."

They walked around the tower, Robin pointing out different places, finaly reaching a long hall. "That's Cyborg's room, he doesn't exactly need sleep, but he charges the same time the others sleep. I think to seem more normal." They moved to the next room, which was accross the hall. "That's Beastboy's room. Be careful though, it looks like a tornado went through it... And then an earthquake, and that someone threw a party right after." Her eyes widened in shock, taking in the mess. "Yea."

Robin lead her to a door in the middle of the hall, next to Beastboy's room. "This is Starfire's room." he motioned inside the room, which was almost blindingly pink.

As Robin started walking to the next door, Leslie asked, "Tim, who's room is this?" she pointed to the door accross from Starfire's.

"Oh, thats... Terra's. She's... not around, anymore." she nodded in understanding. They moved to the far end of the tower, and Leslie noticed the area seemed almost... darker, than the rest of the hall. She put the thought to the back of her mind, as he reached the last two doors. She was about to open the door on the side where Bestboy and Starfire's rooms had been, when Robin stopped her.

"Don't. That's Raven's room. Trust me, she would kill us if we went into her room without her consent. And I don't doubt that she could." she turned, and he motioned to the other room. "And that's my room."

He started walking away, when Leslie asked, "May I see it?"

"Sure, but it's just a normal room." she frowned, thinking. Weren't kids usualy proud of their rooms? She peeked inside. Instead of finding the posters and knick-knacks all over his room like he had in Gotham, the room was as plain as a hotel room. The only sign of life was the cluttered desk. "We have guest rooms on the next floor, if you want to pick one, or-"

"It's ok, I already booked a hotel in town."

"Ok then. You wana meet my friends then?"

"Sure. Let's go." They walked to the main room in silence, and Robin pushed open the door. All the titans looked up, noticing the visitor. They all stood up to greet her.

"Hello, Dr. Tompkins! Please, where are you from, how did you get here, what is your favorite color, and do you wish to be my friend?" Lez jumped back, startled by the girls behavior.

"Um... Gotham City, I took a plane, blue, and of course I'll be friends with you. Starfire, I'm guessing?"

"Glorious! I shall fetch the pudding of friendship!"

"NO!" the other four titans shouted, remembering what all the other 'puddings' had tasted like. Not to mention that some of them moved...

"Um... maybe instead of making your... pudding, I could teach you how to make brownies later..." suggested Robin, trying desperately to detur the girls mind.

"Wonderful! Please, Robin, what are these 'brownies?'" as Robin explained what brownies were, Dr. Lez Tompkins kept talking with the other titans.

"I'm guessing she isn't much of a cook?" the three friends shivered, a chill going up their spine.

"Dude, she could be like, the worst cook on the planet! Well, this planet. We went to hers once, and the food looked like the stuff she made here. But like, some of it moved around! Nasty!"

"We've learned to teach her to cook earth food, instead of having Tamaranian dishes practically shoved down our throat."

Cyborg smirked. "Well, almost all of us. She always manages to convince Robin to try her food when he's not paying attention."

Beastboy started laughing hysterically, "Yea, it's a very affective wakeup call! Hahahaha! Dude, my favorite reaction was when that one thing made him turn blue for a day!" Lez just raised an eyebrow at this, deciding to question Robin about it later.

"So, how about you all tell me a little about yourselves." They looked between each other, deciding who should go first. Cyborg and Raven pushed BB forward. "Okay, and you're Beastboy then?" he nodded, getting slightly nervous. "Okay, is there anywhere we can talk privately?"

Beastboy was about to open his mouth, when Raven interupted. "No, Beastboy, she will NOT want to talk to you in your room. You can barely walk in there!" When Lez gave her a quizical look, she explained, "Empath. Though, I try to stay far away from his thoughts. But he is extremely predictable in the stupid things he says. Try the evidence or interrogation room." Lez nodded a quick thanks, and Beastboy lead his way towards the interrogation room.

He explained, "The evidence room is way creepy. The only ones who go anywhere near there are Robin and Raven." They walked into the room, and sat down on hard metal chairs. "I'll be right back." A minute or two later, Beastboy came back with two bean bag chairs. "It'll be more comfy." Each sat down, and Beastboy asked, "Okay, so like, what are you gonna ask about, Dr. Tompkins?"

"Please, call me Lez. Everyone does. And to answer your quesiton, for today I'm just going to ask a little about your past, to get a sense of where you're coming from."

"Um... how far into my past? Like, when I was with the Doom Patrol, or...?"

"Could you start back before then? With your childhood. What was it like?"

"Um... I don't know..."

"If you don't trust me, it's ok. You just met me. But I assure you, everything will be kept confidential, accept for my mental evaluation." She leaned in closer, "And If you're worried about revealing peoples identities, I won't tell a soul. I've kept Batman, Batgirl, Robin and Nightwing's identities a secret, no matter who had been under the mask."

"Dude, you know who Batman is? Sweet! How?" She laughed.

"I've been the batclan's family doctor since Batman started out on his own."

"Sweet! Wait... does that mean you're _the_ doctor?"

"I'm not sure I know what you mean..."

"Like, the one who... like, fixed Robin's... mind?" She sighed.

"That usually would be kept confidential, and it's not something I go bragging about, but yes. I helped him regain his sanity. Now, could you please start sharing about your past?"

"Okay, well, you seem trustworthy. My real name is Garfield Mark Logan. My parents were genetic scientists, and we'd travel a lot. We lived in Africa for a few years... that's when everything changed. See, we moved all over when we were there, and we always lived just like the others who lived there, instead of staying in fancy hotels or anything. My parents and I were really into animals too. That ended up being a problem.

"When I was about five years old, I was playing outside the hut. I started to wander off. I saw somthing moving in a tree, and started to follow it. Finally, I saw it. It was a rare green monkey, aparently the only one of it's kind. Well, I tried to pet it, because it was tiny, and I was a dumb five year old. Animals usually liked me. Not this one. The stupid monkey bit me, and it HURT. A LOT. I started screaming and crying, because it hurt so bad. My parents found me, and rushed me inside. They found out I had a rare disease only animals could survive. Sakutia."

Lez gasped, having heard of the illness. She knew many had been killed by the disease. He was the only survivor he'd met. "Go on..."

"So, my parents wanted to save my life and stuff, so they used this untested serum on me. Well, it messed with my DNA, and ultimately saved me. As a side affect, it turned my skin and eyes green. Before, I had green eyes, but olive colored skin and blonde hair. My parents were fine with me looking how I did, and were just glad I had lived. When I was around six or seven, my mom was being attacked by a snake, and that's when I found out about the shapeshifting. I turned into a mongoose, the natural predator of that type, and scared it away. Well, I was freaked out. My mom was freaked out. We all freaked.

"My parents did some test on my DNA, and they found that the serum had mutated my DNA to that of an animals. I practiced a little, and soon was able to control my powers. I could only turn into small animals though." He smiled, but that soon turned into a frown. "Then things took a turn for the worst.

"One day, when I was eight, we were out on a boat, and the engine caught on fire. We couldn't put it out, and the boat started sinking. The currents were bad, and hard to swim in. My mom told me to turn into a bird and fly away. She said they'd be ok..." Lez noticed a few tears escape Beastboy's clenched-shut eyes. "They weren't. I flew away like my mom told me to, but turned back into a human half way accross. These guys came into the water and saved me. My parents were never saved... It's my fault they're dead." More tears escaped. Lez put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"It's ok... there's nothing you could've done, you were only a child..."

"But I could have! I could've turned into a whale, or a dolphin or something and saved them, but I didn't."

Lez sighed. "You know, this conversation seems awfully familiar." he tilted his head, confused. "I know I can't convince you that it isn't your fault, and you probably won't belive me when I say it isn't, but, it isn't." He smiled a sad smile.

"I know, but I need someone to blame. It's easy to blame myself I guess."

She smirked, and got a tired expression on her face. "Now, if only it was that easy to convince Nightwing..."

"Nightwing? Isn't Batman his dad?" her eyes widened a little, revealing she had just said somthing she shouldn't have. She looked at Beastboy's earnest expression and sighed.

"Not exactly. Nightwing is Batman's... ward. It's not my place to tell you the details, but Nightwing still believes it is his fault his parents were killed, even though it's been... seventeen years since the accident." Beastboy's eyes widened.

"So... could you tell me what happened, after the men saved you? Or do you want to call it quits for today?"

"I think I'd like to stop there... It gets kinda worse before it gets better." she nodded, understanding.

"Could you send one of your other friends in here? Maybe the alien girl?"

"Sure." he nodded, and started walking out of the room. "You want me to grab you a drink or something?"

"No, thank you." he left to grab Starfire, and she wrote down some observations.

_. comes from nice family life_

_. got powers from Sakutia_

_. parents diseased- boating accident. blames himself._

_. said it gets worse before it gets better - somthing with the men that saved him?_

_. very nice kid. cares about others well being._

A curious face peeked from behind the door. It was time to talk to Starfire.

**so, there you go BB fans, a little bit of his past. Hope you all liked this chapter! Though, it'd be nice if you told me whether or not you did... hint hint. haha :)


	4. stars and stripes

Starfire cautiously entered the room, and took sight of the brightly colored beanbag chairs, which seemed out of place in the dull room. "Oh!" she exclaimed, giggling a little. "Please, what are these whimsical devices?"

Dr. Lez chuckled, and said, "It's called a bean bag chair, Starfire. It's a sort of... fun, squishy chair, I suppose."

"Glorious! Please, what is this, 'evaluation' you shall be doing? Robin tried to explain it, but I still do not understand"

"Well, Starfire, the evaluations I'm doing on you will be to test how... sane, you are I suppose you could say. But for now, I'm just going to learn a little about you."

"Oh, well that surely is easy!" Starfire exclaimed. "I am the princess of Tamaran, my favorite color is pink, I like journeying to the mall of shopping, my best friend is Robin-"

"Whoa, slow down! I can't understand you!" Said Lez, laughing a little bit. "That isn't exactly what I meant. What I meant, was get to know you, like get to know about your past. Where you're coming from."

"Oh." Starfire seemed to be much less spirited by this bit of news. "My past is not of happy times, as I'm sure Beastboy's was not either."

"What makes you think Beastboy had a bad past?" Lez asked, curious as to what Starfire knew and didn't know, and also curious about the girls observations.

"Beastboy always seems to be the happy, and has the fun with his pranks and his jokes, but sometimes it seems as though it is all an act... as if he is hiding in his jokes, hiding from something sad."

"Uh huh..." Lez found this to be very interesting information. "So, a little about yourself?" Starfire nodded.

"I was born Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran, second in line to the throne only to my older sister. Our planet is a warrior people, and my sister and I were trained from birth to become great warriors, so either of us could assume the throne at any time if nececary. When I was thirteen in earth years, the Citadel attacked our planet."

"And the Citadel are...?"

"Not. Nice." Said Starfire, describing them exactly how she had to the titans when they first met. "The battle went on for two years, until our people called a truce. My sister and I were given as... prizes, to the Citadel, to take our turns as... servants to their people." Starfire looked down at the ground, not meeting Lez's eye. "The Citadel also experimented on my sister and I. Trying to see how much light energy we could obsorb. That is how we got our starbolts." She lit up her hands, demonstrating. "The rest of our people only have what the people of earth call 'flight' and 'super-strength'. Our people are almost as strong as the Kryptonians." She said this with a hint of pride, being able to compare her planet's people to Superman.

"So... what happened after they experimented on you?"

"On our way to the Citadel's planet, my sister broke out, finding out about the new power we possessed. She told me about the powers in our native tounge, and she flew off. The security on the ship found out about her leaving, and so they doubled security on me, placing metal handcuffs over my hands, so I could not use my powers. Eventually, I broke out, and flew to earth.

"I ended up in this city, though I could not understand any of earths people, and they frightened me. I was trying to get the metal devices off of my hands, but I could not. Robin came, and mistaked me for a villain, for I was causing great damage to the city. I faught him, and soon Beastboy and Cyborg came, to help Robin. I did not understand that they were trying only to defend their city. Soon I tired, and Raven stopped them from harming me any further. She told them that perhaps fighting was not the answer. Then Robin came foreward cautiously.

"He pulled out a small device which released the locks on my bonds, then I kissed him, told him not to follow me, and left."

"Wait, _kissed_ him?" asked Lez, one eyebrow raised. She was sure she had heard the girl wrong.

"Yes. Tamaranians are capable of learning languages through lip contact." Lez just shook her head, thinking about how much of a surprise that must've been for Tim. "So, I flew to a store of movies and candy, and started eating what I could find. I hadn't been given food in days, for the Citadel didn't want me strong enough to fight. My friends found me there, and explained the word, 'nice', which is not like the word ruptha, the closest word from my own language, meaning weak." Lez nodded, confused slightly.

"Then my friends helped me to defeat the citadel, and stop them from destroying the city. Later on the next day, I met the others, sharing my decision to stay on earth. Robin and Cyborg gave Beastboy, Raven and I communicators they had designed to keep in touch. Eventually, we decided the city needed heroes, and to stay as a team. On this island, the tower was built from the capsule the citadel sent to earth, telling the people not to interfere. And now here we are."

Lez smiled, seeing how perky the girl was. "So, what happened to your planet?" she immediately regretted the question, as Starfire immediately started frowning, and seemed more like Raven than herself.

"The citadel armys left when my sister and I were taken. My k'norfka, Galfore, took care of my younger brother. My parents were both killed in the battle." A few tears trickled from her eyes. "My brother, though he was young, became the grand ruler of Tamaran, until my sister took over... after escaping prison..."

"Prison?"

"It is... a long story. But she took over Tamaran and I was coming because I had to marry a man to save my country from an invasion, and-"

"Marrige?" Lez exclaimed. How could a girl so young even think of marrige?

"Yes. To save my people. But Robin and Raven found out that it was merely a ruse created by my sister, and that she was really trading my hand in marrige for a gem that would make her powers unstopable. Beastboy and Cyborg found out the fleets of ships were empty, and not filled with enemies like we'd expected. So, I challenged my sister for the crown, won the contest and became the Grand Ruler of Tamaran. I then banished Blackfire from Tamaran. I felt like I was not meant to be the Grand Ruler, so I left Tamaran in the care of Galfore, and came back to earth."

"What happened to your brother though?"

"I am not sure. I am hoping Blackfire merely banished him from Tamaran. We have lost touch, and I am not sure what happened to him." Lez nodded, and decided not to ask anything else, seeing how upset Star was. "Is there anything else you wish to know?"

"For today? I think I've learned plenty about you, Starfire. Would you mind sending in one of the others?" Starfire nodded, and a few minutes later a grumpy Raven came into the room, immediately sitting on one of the normal chairs, avoiding the bean bag.

"So... you're a shrink or something?" asked Raven, one eyebrow raised.

"Sort of. I'm a doctor, but ever since what happened to Robin, I studied psychology."

"So... what are you trying to find out?"

"Today, just a little about your past, if that's ok." Lez for some reason was slightly fearful of the girl in front of her. She had a rather cold demeanor.

"Well, it's not ok." Raven said crossly. Lez didn't know how to respond, so she stayed quiet, waiting for Raven to continue. "You are supposedly doing some sort of evaluation becuase the city is questioning our sanity. What does learning our past have to do with anything?"

"Well... It helps me get to know all of you better, understand where you're coming from-"

"Is that relevant though?"

"W-well-"

"That's what I thought. This is about psychology, not therapy. You only need the slightest of details, and some observations."

"If that's how you feel... could you at least tell me what you find to be relevant?" Raven nodded, and Lez inwardly let out a sigh of relief.

"I am from the dimension Azarath. I'm half-human and half-demon. My powers act on my emotions. My full name is Raven."

"Just Raven?"

"Yes. To keep my powers from blowing everything to bits, I must meditate daily and surpress my emotions. That's all you need to know." She got up and started to walk away, when Lez decided to ask just one question.

"One question, non-personal, that'll let me know at least something about you." Raven raised her eyebrow, waiting. "Um... what's your favorite color?"

"Blue. And yes, I'll get Cyborg." She walked away, and Lez ran a hand through her hair. Hopefully the others wouldn't be so dificult...

*So... random chapter :) Don't worry, fun stuff will come soon :) and you cant really accpect Raven to trust her that easy, can you? :) reviews are welcome :)


	5. trust and pressure

"Hello." Lez called to Cyborg, as he entered the room.

"Hi. So... Raven basically explained what she thought of all this and what was happening... I'm guessing she didn't say much?"

"No, just the basics of what she believed that I needed to know," the doctor admitted.

"Ah, don't worry about it. Raven's like that with most people. She'll open up eventually, she's just not very trusting at first. The only ones on the team I think she really trusts are Robin and me."

"Really? Why is that?"

"Well, Star and Rae are close, but they don't talk much they're kinda different. Me and Rae have a lot of differences, but I guess I'm sorta like a brother figure for her. I help her with her problems, she helps me with mine. We just kinda hang out a lot. Don't know how it really started, but now every time I'm fixin the T-Car, she's right there with me, helping. I guess we have an understanding. BB and her kinda clash though, being polar opposites."

"And what about Robin?"

"Well, I'm not sure really. She's always kinda drifted towards him in the begining. Our first fight together, before we were a team. She was reluctant to come with us, saying somthin' like, 'if we knew what she really was, we wouldn't want her arround.' Robin waved her off, basicaly sayin' he knew enough. I think she likes that he doesn't ask questions, that he minds his buisness unlike BB, who's always callin' her out for not tellin us everything. Plus they have this... bond." when he said this, he sounded unsure, like he didn't know if he should've mentioned it or not.

"A bond? As in, a mental link?" she asked. She knew a little bit about these, seeing as she was always working with Metahumans.

"Yea, something like that... You know Robin from before, right?" she nodded. "So, you know about the whole Joker thing?"

She sighed, rubbing her temples. "Yes. I've been working with Batman sort of as a family doctor, since before Nightwing, the first Robin was around. I... helped Robin with the whole thing..." Cyborg nodded, understanding.

"Okay, just checkin before saying anything. I don't want an angry Robin and an angry Raven on my tail at the same time. That's plain old suicide. But yea, when Robin... almost, went crazy, Raven went in his mind, telling him the things he was seeing were just hullucinations. It formed some sort of bond thingy."

"Ah." she said, nodding. "Well, I'll try to earn her trust. So, what about you?"

"My past?" she nodded. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter if I tell you, I'm sure most people know who I really am anyway. My real name's Vic Stone. My parents both worked for Star Labs. They were always using me as an experiment for their intelligent enhansement projects. I dealt with it at first, but as my IQ grew, I started to resent it. So to get back at 'em, I ended becoming friends with this kid, Ron Evers. He ended up leading me into trouble with the law a lot. Well, that started a chain of reactions, and I ended up trying to get away from what my parents wanted to me, and started things they disaproved of. Sports, for example.

"I loved playin' football, soccer, anything. My parents were set on me doing something accidemic. Sports kept me away from the bad stuff, though I still kept bad company. I ended up gettin' hurt once, Ron talkin' me into getting involved in a street gang fight. That was when the city was still run by crime. Besides that, I had a pretty normal life. Ron was still buggin me though, to do the bad things. I tried to get away from it, from him. But it was hard. I ended up ditching him, when he wanted me to help with a racially motivated terrorist act he had come up with.

"I started getting my life back on track, but still I didn't get along with my parents. One day I went with them to Star Labs, cause they wanted me to see one of their experiments. It was a portal, one that could bring things from other dimensions. The experiment went wrong though."

"It didn't work?"

"Oh, it worked alright..." he mumbled. "When we opened the portal, this... this monster thing, came out. It... killed my mom. After that, it turned towards me. It just about ripped me appart. I was sure I was gonna die." he shook his head. "If only...

"My dad forced the monster back through the portal. He couldn't stand to loose both my mom and I, having no one else. He fitted me with experimental prostetics of his own design. When I woke up... I was horrified. I was a monster. I flipped on my dad, asking him why he couldn't have just let me die. Well, eventually I got used to the prostetics, through phisical therapy. I still thought I was a monster though. It didn't help when I got to school.

"I was rejected by everyone. They were all affraid of me. Even my girlfriend, Marcy rejected me. I wasn't allowed to play sports anymore, becuase of the prostetics, and because of bad grades. Well, Ron came back. He tried to mess with my head, to trick me into participating with him in a terrorist attack towards the UN. I ended up stopping him, after a heated battle on top of the UN headquarters.

"Well, after that, I didn't want to go back to my dad. I was still mad at my dad. One night, I was walking around, when Starfire came, started destroying the city."

"Yes, she told me about that. Something with the Gordanians and the Citadel?" he nodded.

"After that, we ended up turning their capsule they sent down into the tower." She nodded in response.

"You've had quite a life so far. Lots of peer pressure," she noted.

"Yea, people tried to use me a lot, thinking that since I was... like this, that I'd be easy to control. And even before this. I was a big guy, pretty strong. They thought I'd be a total meat head, that they could use me. Recruit me into their gangs. But I knew better. My parents had taught me at least that much."

"Do you still keep in touch with your father?"

"Eh. We email back and forth sometimes. Other than that..." he shrugged. "So, you've gotten to all of us but Robin, but you know his past I'm guessing..."

"Yes. If you don't mind, could you tell me where he might be? I'd like to talk to him, catch up. I haven't talked to him in years."

"Yea. he's probably in his room. You know where it is?" she nodded.

"He showed me around earlier. Well, nice to get to know you."

"Likewise." She waved, and went off in search of the boy wonder. They had a LOT of catching up to do.

*Love? Hate? Wish to stomp all over? Let me know!


	6. the hard truth

"Tim?" Lezlie called, knocking on the boy wonder's door. He opened up, and she was surprised to find that he wasn't in a good mood. He stood in the doorframe, glaring at her. "Um... everything okay?"

"I found out, Lez. I found out why you're here. That Bruce sent you." She sighed, and he let her in the room. She sat down at a desk chair, preparing to explain herself, thinking he was mad at her. Instead, the boy wonder started to look more crushed then mad, and simply asked,"Why?" She just watched him, waiting for him to explain himself. He played his previous conversation over in his mind:

"Hey, Tim? You there?"

"Steff? You dig up any dirt?"

"Yea. And you were right."

"No..."

"Yea. Bruce sent her there."

"How?"

"Did I find out? I caved in and asked Barb."

"She knew about it and didn't tell me? At least she should've told Dick, he would've told me-"

"She didn't know, untill she hacked his e-mail."

"Oh. Wait, _she_ hacked _his_-? Never mind. One of her secrets I'm sure."

"Yea. You know her."

"Well, did he have any reason writen down?"

"No. But I did find out, from Alfred."

"He knew about this too?"

"You know Alfred, he's not gonna say anything. He didn't exactly approve, but..."

"So, besides the obvious reason, why did he want Lez to come down here? I mean, wouldn't a phone call be sufficient?"

"You know Bruce... not really the phone call type..."

"You're changing the subject..."

"He didn't just want to check on you."

"It's never that simple with him..."

"He wanted to check on your friends."

"What do you mean, check on them?"

"Like... he wanted to see if they were fully sane. And... and find out about their pasts, so he could be sure it was safe, and-"

"Are you kidding me! I think I know if my friends are sane! And I also think I'd know if they were criminals! Which they're not! If anyone on this team should be being checked up on for 'criminal backround' it would be me! And I'd know if they were bad! Which they aren't! Doesn't he trust me enough to make my own decisions?"

"Tim..."

"He just makes me so... so pissed off! Drives me crazy! No wonder Dick never visits him..."

"Oh come on, Tim... you know them two have problems..."

"He doesn't trust me! Why? Dick and Bruce may have their problems, but Bruce trusts _him_! Why won't he trust me?"

"It's not that he doesn't trust you, it's just..."

"He doesn't trust me."

"He doesn't trust anyone."

"He trusts Alfred. And Dick and Barb."

"Well yea, but... just... I don't know. You're trying to ask me to explain Bruce."

"Sorry Steff, I know that's impossible... it's just... did he really have to drag Leslie into this? And find out my friends pasts? Really! That wasn't necessary! I hope they were vague, that she didn't find anything out! I thought I could trust her, and yet here she is as... as a _spy_."

"Tim, you know it's not like that. And you can trust Lez, after all she's the one who- um..."

"Yea, I know. And I owe her everything for helping me out of that mess. I was psychotic, I know Steff. It's just... you know I have trust issues! And to find out one of your closest allies is a _spy_..."

"If you're gonna go into all that techno lingo, at least Lez isn't 'working for the enemy.'"

"No, that'd be Terra."

"..."

"Look, sorry for ranting your ear off. And thanks for finding all that out. I gotta go."

"Kay. Bye Tim."

"Bye."

The whole conversation replayed in his head, and now he watched Leslie, the doctor, the helper, the grandmother figure, the... _spy_. "We need to talk."

"I know," she responded simply.

"Why are you here?"

"Because Bruce asked me-"

"No, I mean why did you do it? Become a spy for him? Out of everyone in this world, I've always, _always_ been able to trust you. But now... now I don't know what to think."

"Tim, you know it's not that simple."

"Then explain it to me. Why should I trust you? Why doesn't Bruce trust me? Why didn't you tell me? And why are you spying on my friends?" Before she could answer, Robin cut her off. "Actually, hold on a second. I think you should explain this to all of us. Come on."

Dr. Leslie sighed, and followed Robin out of his room, and into the common room, where all the other titans were conveniently in. Starfire was 'cooking' while Raven watched on to make sure she didn't accidentaly poison it, and Beastboy and Cyborg were playing video games, as always.

"Guys, come here. We need to talk to Lez. All of us. She has some explaining to do."

"What do you mean, by explaining?" Asked Raven, and her accusing tone caused him to hesitate in responding for a second. He didn't want his friends to not trust her, but at the same time...

"She wasn't sent here by the mayor for a psychic evaluation. She was sent by Batman."

*soooooo sorry for not updating sooner! but reviews do make good motivation... :)


	7. explinations

**hey, so sorry about not updating sooner! I blame my teachers, who are hellbent on giving us 5000+ pages of homework daily. Anyways...**

**Important!: I deal with the screwey timeline I made up in this chapter. All the events that are referenced have happened in the comics or some form of show, but just differently in my timeline, in strange orders. Oh, and I moved Dick and Tim's ages closer together so I could reference the old titans :)**

"Batman? Why would he send you here?" Asked Raven, immediately distrustful, and with good reason.

"He sort of sent me here to... well, not exactly _spy _on you..."

"But why would the Batman wish for you to spy on us? He is trustful of us, yes?"

"Starfire, Batman doesn't trust anyone except who he wants to trust." Tim said, his annoyance evident in his tone. "Guys, just give Lez a chance to talk. I trust her, I want to hear her side."

"Okay... well, you all know about what happened to Robin in regards to the Joker... this all started about then. When Robin got better, Batman wasn't so eager to let Robin fight crime anymore. He was almost relieved when Robin didn't want to even look at the costume for a full year after his recovery. One day though, he decided he wanted to go back to his old life of fighting crime. He missed the thrill, and missed helping people. And it didn't really help that all of his friends were crime fighting anyway...

"He went back to the Batcave. Asked Batman to take him back as his partner in crime fighting. Batman refused. Robin was devistated, but kept pestering Batman, hoping he'd give in. Neither would. Everyone in the bat-family of theirs seems to be very stubborn now that I think of it..."

"But Lez, what does that have to do with you being here?" Tim asked her, rather impatiently.

"I'm getting to that, I just thought I'd give your friends a bit of background." Robin shrugged, not caring either way. "So, Batman finally gave in, said Robin could become his partner again. But the poor boy couldn't bring himself to put the costume back on. Not in Gotham, at least. Once Batman left for patrol, he left the city, and came here. That, I suppose, is when you decided to stick with one persona?" she asked. He nodded in response.

"Anyway, over the past couple of years, Batman's been growing worried about you all being out here. I mean, there aren't any adults around to check up on you, and Batman didn't want to get the JLA involved. It didn't help when Nightwing-"

"When he what? Is he okay?" blurted out Robin, much to his own embarrasment. He didn't really keep in touch with Nightwing, though he knew he should- the guy was like a brother to him...

"He's fine! But things got a little... personal with him- Blockbuster bombed his appartment complex. Things got a little... hectic."

"But didn't his grandfather live th-?" She nodded. "Oh."

The titans weren't following any of this, and Beastboy made that clear, as he waved his hand in front of Robin's face, shouting, "Hello! Earth to Robin! Dude! We have no clue what you're talking about! Couldja clue us in or something? Or could we get back on topic?"

"Sorry..." Tim mumbled.

"So after the... incident with Nightwing and Blockbuster, Batman started worrying about all of his junior partners more, and kid heroes in general. He wasn't sure if you all could handle it."

"Say what! What the heck are y'all talkin' about? We stopped a Gordanian invasion! We stopped the Brotherhood of Evil! We stopped the stinkin' end of the world! How are we incompent?"

"Maybe the fact that after all that, we still can't stop Slade." Raven said moodily. "It's true. If it weren't for the superpowers and all the villians in this city, they wouldn't have put up with us. Any sane person wouldn't let a bunch of kids fight crime."

"And that's exactly what Batman was thinking. You see, Batman's the one who had the first sidekick. He feels responsible for anything bad that happens to any kid hero or sidekick."

"But we made the choice to put on the masks and cloaks and costumes. It's not like he asked us to." Pointed out Tim.

"True, but unless Batman can blame the Joker, he blames himself. I can't even count as high as the ammount of times he's wondered if training the first Robin, Nightwing, was the right decision. So anyways, Batman wondered if not stopping Robin, letting him move accross the country, and you all becoming a second generation of Titans was the right decision."

"Second generation? But we're original!" exclaimed Beastboy.

"Actually, there was a group of Titans before you- Nightwing, Wondergirl, Arsenal, Tempest and the Flash. Of course, at the time they were Robin, Wondergirl, Speedy, Aqualad and Kid Flash."

"But I thought the last three were our age? Or are they just different people, cause we have titans, but they're just Speedy, Aqualad and KF. They were never those other names."

"They're older than they look. Speedy took up the name Arsenal about 5 months after he helped you in your battle with the Brotherhood, I believe. Likewise with Aqualad's decision to become Tempest. Though Kid Flash's decision to take up Flash's mantle... that was unexpected, but due to circumstances. They're a little older than you all, Nightwing's age."

"But when were they titans? 'Cause, if that was like, recent, then we woulda heard of them and stuff, not used their names."

"They were Titans, not _Teen _Titans. They formed thier team when they were all much younger than all of you, about 9 or 10 years old, each of them. Anyway, to get back on track... Batman's been worrying about the lot of you, but doesn't want to bug you guys. He knows you're all capable of handling things here, he just worries about the possibilities. So he sent me.

"He wanted me to check, first and foremost, that none of you are -or are in risk of- becoming insane. That'd put the whole city, and all of you, in danger."

"So he doesn't trust me." Robin muttered, causing Lez to silently curse herself out in her mind, at how insensitive that sounded.

"No, not you in particular-"

"But if not, that means he doesn't trust my friends." Robin's voice was rising, as well as his short temper. "And if he can't trust my friends, whom I've known for five years, without even taking the time to_ meet_ them... Can't trust my desisions of who I hang out with..."

"Robin..."

"Then what reason do I have to trust him?" He stormed out of the room, leaving behind the shocked faces of his friends.

**well, i hope this was worth the wait, and i hope you all enjoyed enough that you'd absolutely love to hit that lil button below and you know... review? feel free to flame, flip, whatever. I'd like some form of feedback though please!**


	8. power outage

**hey, so sorry about not updating sooner! I blame my teachers, who are hellbent on giving us 5000+ pages of homework daily. Anyways...**

Lezlie shook her head, finally realizing that this went deeper than a little checkup from Batman. It was a matter of trust. And god knew if anyone had trust issues... "Robin, wait." He froze for a second. "Please come back and just talk. It's not fair to your friends. They have no clue what's going on, and neither do you. You need the full story."

"What more is there to tell? He doesn't trust me, or my friends! After all this time! And it's because of my one big fat mistake! He should be able to trust my friends! He doesn't trust them, because he doesn't trust my judgement, becuase he thinks I'm crazy! You don't see Nightwing getting check ups!"

"Yes, but Nightwing's been doing this a lot longer than you."

"Yea, yea, I know. Trained profesional in everything he's ever done since he was three. I get it. He's a perfect son. But why can't the Bat trust us?"

"He's not perfect, but you know how Batman is."

"We don't," cut in Cyborg. "What do you mean by that? 'Cause if the Bat can't trust Robin after all this time- I'm not sure how he could trust anyone."

"It's not that Batman doesn't trust Robin, or any of you for that matter." Robin was about to protest, but Lezlie cut him off with a look. "He trusts your leader with his life. He trusts Robin sometimes more than he trusts himself. Batman isn't the best with emotions though."

"So that's where Robby gets it from..." Beastboy muttered with a smirk.

"ANYway, Batman, though he refuses to show it, cares greatly about everyone in the superhero community. At the same time, so much has happened to him, and the people he loves. He's affraid of what could happen. That's why he seems to be portrayed as so suspicious of you all. That's why he sent me."

"So, he sent you to see if we were psychotic, and see if his son was safe?"

"Precisely."

"He's not my father..." Robin mumbled. True, Bruce had adopted him, but he would never be a father to him. Never.

"Well, he still thinks of you as his son." Tim just nodded, not wanting to argue. In his head he thought, _Yea. The Bat think of anyone as his son. Right. The man just see's people as aquaintances. Co-workers. The closest he's ever been to having a son would probably be Nightwing. I'm just a replacement._

Without warning, the alarms started blaring, the tower coming to life. "Lezlie, get to one of the guest rooms, now! Lock the door and don't come out until we get you!"

"What's going on?"

"Just go! I'll explain later!" Sighing, she ran to safety. "Titans! We've got an intruder at the tower! They just hit one of the silent alarms, and by the looks of it, it was on purpose."

"And if there's anyone who can get past all of my security without tripping the alarms up until now, it's-"

"Slade," Starfire finished. They were in for a heck of a night...

"Okay, titans! What we need to do is-" Whatever Robin was going to say was cut short, as suddenly, "We've got a power outage!" The tower was pitch black. Starfire lit up the room with an eerie glow, curtesy of a starbolt.

"I'm putting the tower on lockdown!" Cyborg called.

"No! Wait! We don't know where Slade is or what he wants! We don't even know if the intruder _is_ Slade or not! That's probably not the best idea!" called out Raven.

"Well, then pray tell what _should _we do?" he asked in return.

"Stop arguing, for one," Robin cut in. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but we need to get to the powerbox to turn the lights back on!"

"In the basement? Dude! You know the basement's always the worst place to go in a crisis! Haven't you ever watched any horror flicks! Seriously!"

"Well we need to do something." He started walking towards the door. "Look. I've got night vision in my mask. I'll go turn the lights back on. Cyborg, try to find where the intruder is with your scanners, Raven try the same with your powers. Beastboy and Starfire, stick together and look around for the intruder as well."

"But it's pitch black dude!" Robin rolled his eyes.

"Beastboy, Starfire is capable of producing starbolts, which work well as light. You can turn into any animal you want. I'm sure you can turn into one with night vision. I'll join you guys in the search once I get the lights back on."

"Rob, maybe you should bring someone with you. I mean, night vision or not, it's still dangerous to be walkin' around by yourself in the pitch black with an unknown suspect prowlin around."

He smirked in response. "I'm from Gotham, Cyborg. The darkness is a close friend. I'll be fine. I promise." Tim walked out, leaving no room for any debates or protests. Time to get a move on.

Tim found the basement door after a few tries, managing not to fall down the stairs. Stumbling around in the dark was harder than he remembered. "I guess I should of taken a flashlight, instead of making up that crap about night vision..." He stumbled down the stairs two at a time, while holding onto the wall. He was almost to the bottom when he heard a loud SLAM behind him. With a sense of dread, he raced back up the stairs to find that yes, the door was locked. Crap.

Swallowing his urge to call his friends, he made his way back down to the power box. Feeling around, he noticed immediately that the faceless foe had been diligent. They had taken the time to cut each of the wires into quite a few pieces.

"Great... just great! How could it get any better?" he shouted. Tim pulled out his communicator to get some help. If Cyborg could meld the wires back together-

The communicator was knocked from his hands. "What the-"

"Miss me, Timmy? Of course you did!" Robin froze. If hearing his name being called by the villian wasn't enough to make him stop, the familiar voice was. "My my, what am I thinking, botching up your name! Forgive me, will you JJ?" As one voice cackled in maniacle laughter, the other screamed in terror. Tonight was not a good night at all...


	9. lockdown

**A/N: Kay, so i'm putting the author's note up here, cause I felt like it took away from the ending if I put it at the bottom. Criticism and comments are welcome! Please review!**

Starfire and Beastboy were walking down the west wing towards the infirmary, in search of whoever had triggered the alarm. At the same time on the other side of the tower, Cyborg and Raven had gotten a lock on the infultrator's position.

"Star? BB? We've got a lock on the perp! Whoever they are is in the base-" Cyborg immediately stopped, hearing a scream echoing down the hallways of the tower. He couldn't tell who the scream belonged to though, friend or foe. "You guys here that?"

"Uh, DUDE! What do you think! Who was that?"

"You mean it wasn't you being stupid?" asked Raven, immediately worried, despite her light words. "Whoever broke into the tower is in the basement!"

"Is not that the location in which Robin is?"

Every titans' blood ran cold at the implication of what Starfire had said, as they heard another scream. It definately was Robin. The four remaining titans ran towards the basement, all the while Beastboy shouting, "I told him going in the basement was a bad idea!" They met up at the door, dread knawing at the pit of their stomachs, seeing that it was closed. Robin would've left the door open. Starfire tried the door. Locked.

"X'al! We must get to Robin!" She was ready to bust down the door, when "Eep!" she jumped back in surprise, metal doors falling over the regular ones. Someone, Robin or otherwise, had put the tower on lockdown.

"Just great!" muttered Raven, taking out her communicator. "Robin? Robin do you read me? Hello? Robin!"

Her only response was static.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~J.J.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robin heard Raven calling him over his communicator, and immediately dived down to where he figured his communicator was located. He saw the blinking red light and was about to grab it, when a swift kick to the ribs kept him from going anywhere. He screamed again, half from the pain, and half trying to have his friends find him. His only answer was the tower going into lockdown. Just. GREAT.

"Oh, my little J.J... you don't really think that yelling will get you anywhere, do you?" Robin got up, backing away. "If anything would help you now, it'd be a great big LAUGH. HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

His eyes widened in terror. Any training instilled in him was forgotten, and replaced by terror.

"Now come on sonny boy! Give me a smile, why don't you?" Robin just shook his head.

"No... NO! You're dead! I-I killed you! You-you're not here! This isn't real!" Another laugh. Another scream.

"Oh, but I am. It seems like all of you bat and bird rodents alike have too many lives for your own good, you know. None of you ever stay dead! Why should I?" Laughter.

"NO! YOU'RE NOT REAL!" Robin, still backing up, tripped over a box and fell on the floor. Seeing the smiling face in front of him despite the darkness, he scrambled back farther, alarmed when he felt the cool, concrete wall pressed against his back.

"I'm as real as you, bird brain! And this is, too!" Quicker than Tim could follow, the glint of a knife cought his eye as it zoomed passed his face. He shouted in surprise, feeling the sting of cold metal on his cheeks.

"Come on, Jay Jay! Give your old man a big old laugh! Just follow my lead!" Another slash across his face, as he struggled to get away. "Ready, at the count of three! One, two... Three!" Lightening was flashing somewhere off in the distance at that moment, Tim was sure of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hearing another scream from the basement caused the titans to double their efforts to override the lockdown and break down the metal barrier.

"Raven, can't you just transport us down there?" asked Beastboy. They were getting desperate. So desperate that Beastboy wouldn't have even minded the creepy feeling he got every time she used her magic to transport them.

With a twinge of guilt, she shook her head. "I can't. It's too dangerous. I need to be focused to transport anyone, but I haven't meditated recently. If I tried, we'd probably end up in another dimension."

"What about that time with Slade and the dust?" asked Cyborg. "You went in Rob's mind or something, didn't you? Can't you do that again?"

"I already tried. It didn't work."

"Is the guy really that stuborn that he'd block off his mind? The man needs help!" She shook her head, confused.

"No... It's like... He isn't trying to block his mind. He doesn't want to. He just... is. It's as if he isn't..." she trailed off.

"As if he is not what?" asked Starfire, worried about what the answer might be.

"As if he isn't completely with us."

"WHAT?" shouted Beastboy and Starfire simultaniously. "Are you saying he's-?" Raven's eyes widened in surprise, realizing what she had implied.

"Oh, Azar, no! He's not dead, but he might be on the verge of unconciousness. He's thinking irrationally. Some of his emotions are too powerful at the moment. I can't get through to him."

"But why does he not answer his communicator? Why does he scream?" asked Starfire. "And also-"

"Who's down there with him?" Cyborg finished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~J.J.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Why do I seem to get in these situations every time I come down here? _Robin thought to himself. If only he could fix the wires. If only he could reach the back up generator. If only he could override the lockdown.

If only...

If only he could escape.

Trying to stay awake was becoming a challenge, though whether from the loss of blood, being beaten to a pulp, or being scared two inches from his life he didn't know. When fighting the psychotic clown in front of him- well, that's a joke already. He wasn't fighting. He couldn't. He was too scared.

The monster in front of Tim had tortured him.

Beaten him.

Broken him.

Made him spill every secret he had ever kept.

Dumped chemicals on him.

Ripped out his teeth.

Broke his bones.

Made him scared to live.

Scared to die.

But worst of all, the madman had made him KILL. Though in the end, the joke was on the clown. He died, not Batman. Not who Tim was supposed to kill. Not who he almost DID kill. He also made Robin FEAR. It was no secret that Robin had been and still was beyond scared of the clown. Who wasn't?

After all, encounters with the crazy had made even Nightwing (who grew up in a CIRCUS for cripes sake!) wary of clowns. Those same encounters had haunted Batman's dreams. He was the madman who had caused the rift between the original Batman and Robin, via a few bullets to the sholder. The psychopath that killed the second Robin. It was only inevitable that something would happen to Tim. And it had.

Tim went crazy becuase of him. Betrayed his family, becuase of him. And he wouldn't, didn't, get away with it. "You're not reall... you're not real..." Robin muttered to himself, as he stealthily inched his way over to the backup generator.

"Oh, what's the matter, bird brain? Affraid of the dark? Hahahahahahhahahahahahahaha!" a ghostly pale hand slammed down on the button needed, and the power came back on with a burst of white light. Robin blinked rappidly, trying to ajust to the light. But when he had, the last echoes of the dreaded laugh were fading.

HE was gone.

Robin wasn't surprised. Honestly, he was still more petrified than anything. He breathed in a sigh of relief when he realized his friends were finally able to override the lockdown. He would be free. For now.

He would go upstairs, clean up the blood he knew he was covered in, get some rest, then figure out how the hell the J-... _he _was back. How he got in.

As Robin limped to the stairs, he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror that had been down there for storage. He stopped cold, eyes widening more than he thought humanly possible, gasping for breath. He had seen the knife marks.

He had a smile carved into his face.

Robin tried to compose himself before facing his friends, almost done overriding the lockdown. With a bit of a struggle he unclenched his fists. As soon as he did, a crumpled up piece of paper fell to the floor. Hands shaking, Robin picked up the slip, and unfolded it.

He felt sick.

Written in his own blood was a message:

_'Why so serious?'_


	10. comm link convos

**A/N: Uh... hi. It's been a while! Sup? ':) uh... Trigon Smiley! }::D **

"Robin!" Starfire cried in relief, flying down into the basement. The relief was immediately replaced with worry as soon as she saw his condition. "Robin? X'hal! Who did this to you? What happened?" The bloodwriten note fell from his shaky hand. Raven picked it up, and after briefly scanning it, she put it away immediately, not daring to let the others see it. Not yet.

"Robin?"

"Dude?"

"C-call N-Nightwing...! Call him!" is all he could muster in a frantic tone, before he let himself go unconcious, safe in the company of his friends.

"We need to get him to the infirmary, like, now!"

"Thank you, captain obvious!" Bellowed Cyborg, trying to lighten up the rather dire situation.

"Your _wel-_come sargant sarcasm!" Beastboy shot back.

"Idiots..." is all that Raven muttered, as she motioned for Starfire to bring the unconcious boy up to the infirmary, her trailing behind. By now Dr. Leslie had disobeyed her 'orders' to stay in her room (honestly, why would any adult over the age of 40 take orders from kids?), and was waiting at the top of the stairs.

"What...?"

"Move," Raven monotoned, ignoring her.

"Let me help! He needs medical attention, and I've been his doctor for years! I'm used to this kind of thing," Lezlie protested, following the two girls.

"You _were_ his doctor. We have this under control."

"Do you?" she asked, skepticism showing. "Even so, I can be of use. I don't think either of you have medical training-"

"Please. SHUT. UP," Raven demanded, hands glowing blue. The good doctor watched in amazement as Raven's hands moved over Robin's lifeless form, healing his bruises, and stopping his cuts from bleeding. She heard an audible 'Snap!' and figured that was his bones being set in place. Beads of sweat rolled down the young empath's face.

"He's been hurt more than his outward apperance shows."

"Raven, please don't over exert yourself! Friend, I do not think Robin would wish for you to be harmed in healing him-"

"No, Starfire, It's not that. I've healed him while he was in worse shape than this. It's more of his mental state I'm concerned with. His emotions... they're out of control. His aura is projecting sorrow. Worry. Fear. I don't know what kind of shape he'll be in when he wakes up."

Raven slumped down in a chair, healing him as much as possible. "What's his status, phisically?" Lezlie asked. Without Raven's permission to give X-Rays, she wasn't able to see anything but the obvious.

"He broke a few ribs, but I've reduced the injuries to minor fractures. The bruises should be gone soon, and the cuts have stopped bleeding, and aren't too bad. It's almost as if someone give him a million papercuts..." she mused. "The kelvar lining of his suit protected him from further damage. He should be waking up within the hour. He'll be needing pain medication on awakening. Do you know his dosage?"

Lezlie nodded. "I'll go fill the perscription. Fill me in when I get back." Raven showed her aproval with a slight nod, and the doctor attempted a smile back. She could tell - the girl really was TRYING to get along. She didn't want to break the little trust she had earned.

"Starfire... how about you go make sure Cyborg and Beastboy are calling Nightwing instead of scaring him away," Raven suggested to the worried girl. Starfire nodded, and sparing a glance back to Robin, went to the main room where her friends were finally getting ahold of the famed hero on the main screen.

"Hey, Tiny Tim! Whats u-?" he looked at the callers. "You're not Robin." The titans heard a muffled voice saying something from his earpiece to which he responded, "Hold on Oracle, somethings come up. Can you send-? Alright, five minutes okay?" The titans waited for him to finish talking to this 'Oracle'. "Fine, I'll multitask." He turned back to the titans, "So, who are you?" Before they could answer... "Oh. Right. Titans. Sup? Where's Robin? Pshh, that's a dumb question, he probably told you to call. So what happened? Hold up a sec, putting you on headset. Blockbuster. You know how these things go, right?"

"Uh..." The three titans could merely blink in response. Nightwing was so unlike what they had immagined. They had expected someone more along the lines of their Robin, or Batman. Calm, serious and driven. Not what appeared to be a hyperactive fast talking- well, they didn't expect Nightwing to act like Kid Flash.

"So what's the situation?" turning to whom the titans assumed was Blockbuster, "Not you, buddy! You already wreak of bad intention! Sorry, what?"

"Uh, it is Robin. He told us to call you because he-"

"Will you shut up! I'm on the phone! Manner's people!" A pause. "I don't care that you're pointing a gun at my head, you can wait two more minutes!Sheesh! SO, Titans? What about Robby?"

"Uh, he's kinda-" A gunshot rang out, and the titans gasped, eyes wide. They all let out a sigh of relief as soon as they realized Nightwing was okay, then rolled their eyes in exasperation at his response.

"Yeesh, blocky! Patience does not mean shoot the bright blue target! Now, remind your prison gaurd that they need to bump up your grammar lessons, will ya? I'm gonna pretend that was a slip up though, so just put down the gun, and step into the nearest police cruiser, and we can play this game next month!" A few more gunshots rang out over the com. link, and the titans heard a violent scuffle they could only assume was Nightwing fighting Blockbuster's henchmen. Or something totally irrelivant. They couldn't be too sure.

Beastboy, having been loosing patience at the scenario, shouted, "Dude! Are you gonna help us or not!"

"'Course I'm gonna help! _Sorry_ that I don't have any help in fixing this trash heap of a city besides about five good cops! Now, before he starts blabbing again, what's wrong?"

"Robin's in trouble. He told us to call you before he blacked out." Raven clearly stated, walking into the room.

"What-?" To this day, the titans would have sworn that they'd heard Nightwing growl, he was that pissed. He didn't particularly like when Robin got hurt, and that much was clear. After hearing Blockbuster howl in pain (after an audible "snap!" of a bone or two), and the click of handcuffs, and a police seiren, he responded, all traces of his happy-go-lucky personality gone, replaced by cold fury. "Who the hell had the _nerve_ to mess with my baby brother?"

Nightwing switched the comm link from the head piece to his communicator, as to speak with the titans face to face. One look at his expression made the titans glad he was on their side.

"We don't know," Cyborg said, sighing. "There was an intruder alert, but before we could do anything about it there was a power outage. He went down into the basement to fix it while we looked for the intruder. Once we picked up that the intruder was in the basement as well, we heard Robin screaming. We rushed towards the basement, but someone, Robin or otherwise, put the tower on lockdown."

"I thought the power was out?" Nightwing asked, the detective in him wary.

"Lockdown's automatic when triggered, whether the power's working or not, since it's for emergency situations," Raven explained. "Robin wouldn't answer his communicator, and we couldn't hear what was being said, only screams. We worked on overriding the lockdown. Eventually, Robin must have turned on the backup generator, becuase the power went back on and we were able to counter the lockdown. Once we got down there, he was in pretty bad shape.

"And who else was down there?" Nightwing asked, looking ready to smash the mystery assailiant's face in.

"Nobody. Just Robin, and he was barely there." Beastboy said with a shrug. Nightwing's face turned pale, not liking where this was going.

"Did you check his blood for any drugs or chemicals that would've made him hullucinate?"

"Yea, I tested some of the blood that was in the basement. It was clean. Trust me, we've been in this situation with Rob before. That was the first thing we did, before calling you."Nightwing nodded.

"Does Batman know about this?"

"No. Robin said to call you, not the Batman," Starfire explained.

"Good. I'll be there in a few seconds."

"Seconds! Don't you mean hours? I thought you were in Bludhaven?" Beastboy asked.

"What do you think I've been doing for the last ten minutes? Twiddling my thumbs? I put my bike away, sent a message to the Watchtower, and so on."

"What's that got to do with anything? And what's the Watchtower?"

"You'll find out eventually. So lets see... contacted the JLA... thanks to Zeta beam technology, now I'm in outerspace... Hey, Supes! '_Nightwing?' _And... now I'm right behind you."

They all jumped in shock, as the original boy wonder suddenly appeared. "Gotta love modern technology. Now, where's-"

"Nightwing? What are you doing here?" Robin asked, walking into the main room. The titans looked at him in shock.

"Robin?" Starfire cautiously asked. "Should you not be resting?"

"Why? I'm fine. I've had worse happen than what I'm assuming are broken ribs. So, who's gonna tell me how this happened? And again, what are you doing here, 'Wing?"

"You rang..." he responded, as confused as the others. "You don't remember anything?"

"I remember there being an intruder alert, and the power going out. After that, nothing." Robin gave a half smile, showing his own frustration. That's when Nightwing noticed the knife marks accross his face. His eyes widened in shock.

"No..."

"Nightwing? What's wrong?"

"How... how'd THAT happen?"

"What?" Robin felt across his face, eventually finding the raised cut Nightwing was pointing to. He traced it, and realizing the shape with a growing unease, he looked into a mirror. He gasped seeing the false smile adorning his face, dropping the mirror, and scrambling back in shock. The memories of the previous few hours rushed back to him, like a slap to the face.

He shouted out in fright, eyes widening in terror.**"Joker!"**

**Nice way to end a chapter, right? Spazzing out characters and some bits of confusion for everyone else. ;) I hope you enjoyed this, and I promise I won't let the chapter hiatus be so long! Reviews equal motivation, and motivation equals more entertainment for you lovely readers, and more nightmare fuel for poor Timmy ;D**


	11. Brotherhood

**FINALLY! INTERNET IS BACKKK! :D MAN IT IS GOOOD TO BE HERE :D HAHAHA. **

**ENJOY }::D**

Ch 11

"What!" Nightwing exclaimed, eyes wide. "The J-HIM? No way. He's gone. Just-I-Ugh. Just go get some sleep for now, okay kid?"

"How am I supposed to get any sleep after that?" Robin shot back.

"Wait, what's going on? What about the Joker?" Beastboy asked impatiently. Sighing, Nightwing ran his fingers through his hair.

"Notice the nice big smile now adorning Robin's face? What exactly do you find that reminiscent of?"

"Dude… no way. Rob, you told us you aced the Joker! He can't be, like, _not_ dead… can he?" Glaring at the changeling, Nightwing began pacing the length of the room.

"Well to start, the clown can't-_couldn't_ teleport. Since there's no sign of anyone being down there now -according to all of you- the intruder is most likely a copy-cat crook who knows a bit too much, and has some form of teleportation device, or is real good at hide and seek. Now, I could name about thirty people who could fit that bill off the top of my head, but most are, to the best of my knowledge, on the good guy side of the law. Any names in particular come to mind?"

"Slade," Robin immediately muttered. "Not a teleporter, but he's brilliant, in a twisted sort of way. And he's good with tech and chemicals, too. I'm sure he could've figured something out." Nightwing stopped his pacing for a second, to spin around and face Robin.

"Slade? You guys have been brawling it out with Sladey Wilson?"

"You know him?" Robin asked, incredulous.

"Yea, Deathstroke? White hair, beard, eye patch? Looks like a pirate?"

"Well, we've never seen him without the mask, but one of his eyes is completely covered…"

"He's wearing a mask now? Tell me he's still wearing his orange and blue disco suit of doom!" seeing the blank stares, he asked, "Does he at least still carry the guns and swords? The laser pointer?"

"Uh, no, dude. You sure we're talking about the same guy? Our Slade's not some dope pirate in a disco suit. He's totally sane in a crazy sort of way, tricked out robots, metal mask, tactician? Obsessed with Robby?" Nightwing smirked at the description.

So, he got a costume change? It's the same guy. Sladey might not have a good sense of fashion, but he's damn smart. And one of the world's greatest tacticians. He took out a good chunk of the league with nothing but a laser pointer once. Crazy stuff."

"Yea, that sounds more like our Slade," Raven said with a nod. "Where do you know him from?"

"Encounters here and there. He's not too bad, he's helped mjeOld titans, you know, me, Donna, Garth-hey!" he exclaimed, rubbing his arm, which Robin had just elbowed, rather harshly. "What was that for, Tiny Tim?" Robin glared at him, and he finally got the picture. "Oh, the secret I.D. thing? Troia and Tempest don't care, you know that as well as I do."

"Okay, but Speedy-er, Arsenal and Flash probably care!"

"Did I speak Arrow-for-brains or Fleet-Feet's names?"

"You were about to!"

"Are you a mind reader? No? So how, please telleth good sir, did you knoweth which words would come forth from thy mouth?"

"… you've been working at the renaissance fair again, haven't you?"

"No! Well… not recently… and like the renaissance fair comes to the 'haven! Besides, Amy and Babs keep me busy."

"Who are they?" asked Beastboy.

"Bosses."

"I'll be sure to tell Babs that next time I talk to her," Robin said with a smirk.

"No way, she'd tease me for the rest of eternity!"

"Exactly, my friend!"

As Nightwing and Robin continued their play-arguing, Raven turned to Cyborg, asking, "Shouldn't we be figuring out what happened to Robin down in the basement? The Joker? Any of that? Robin was in pretty bad shape a few minutes ago, mentally, and is still pretty bad physically."

"Yea, but that was then. Nightwing ended up changing the subject around, and look at the mood Rob's in now! He's more relaxed, not thinking about the Joker, or whatever attacked him. Not obsessing. None of us have ever been able to do that. Whatever Nightwing is trying to do, it's working. We'll just have to trust him for now, and ask questions later. The two look over to Robin and Nightwing again, both leaning against the back of the couch.

"You know little dude, it's late, 'specially Bludhaven time. And last time I talked to you was what? A few months ago? How's about we all chillax for a while, and watch a movie," Nightwing suggested.

"But what about-" Robin started to protest.

"La la la! Nope! Not listening! What mystery? Too late for crime solving! All brains are officially in mush mode!"

"Speak for yourself, 'wing."

"Like I'd speak for you? I don't even know your language!"

"Quoting The Breakfast Club? Really?"

"Yeppers, Tiny Tim! Or should I call ya Tiny Titan, since it isn't Christmas time?"

"… just pick a movie." Nightwing started to laugh, and his face lit up in a smile, as he went rummaging through the movies Robin had pointed him over to. "And it better not be 'It's a Wonderful Life!'"

"Kill joy!"

Seeing the confused expressions of his friends, Robin explained, "He's obsessed with the movie. Even makes Batman watch it around the holidays." The confession caused Beastboy and Cyborg to start snickering, cowed by the mental image of Batman of all people watching 'It's a Wonderful Life.'

"And you'll help us figure out… whatever that was… tomorrow, right? And you won't tell Batman?"

"Tell Batman? As if! I won't even tell Alfie if you don't want me to! Scouts honor!"

"…You're not a boy scout."

"If you ask anyone else, they'd disagree. Roy used to think I should sue 'em for copying me or something, and Amy is convinced that I'm secretly a Cub Scout leader or something, and that's why I'm barely showing up to work on time." Robin laughed, and joined his friends on the couch, just as the movie started.

A few hours later…

The movie was almost over, and while Cyborg, Raven, and Nightwing were wide awake, while Starfire was half awake, Beastboy curled up as a kitten on her lap, and Robin was leaning on his brother's shoulder, almost asleep. When Cyborg was about to start talking a few minutes later, Nightwing stopped him, pointing to the now (barely) asleep Robin. Raven and Cyborg shared a look, and quietly moved to the kitchen area, Raven teleporting Beastboy to his own room, and Cyborg leading the drowsy Tamaranian to her own dwelling.

Nightwing dutifully let his little brother drift into slumber, until gently prying him off when he was sure the young boy wonder was asleep, laying him down on the couch. He then met the remaining two Titans in the kitchen area. "Shoot, it's already two thirty? Hold on a sec, gotta call out of work."

"At two thirty?"

"It's later over in Bludhaven, and I'm not planning on going on patrol today, what with all that's happened. If the Joker really is back… you're gonna need all the help you can get. And Ti-Robin's gonna need family close by."

Nightwing walked over to the far end of the kitchen, and took out a cell phone. As the phone rang, he again began to pace. "Hey, Serge-sorry, sorry, Amy? Yea, it's me… I know it's early… yea... I-I can't be in today, sorry… Kid brother's sick – gotta take care of 'em… nah, Bruce is outa town… thanks… I promise, I'll take double shift some other day if you want me to make up for- … yes, I'm aware that I'm a rookie… alright. Thanks, Amy!" He hung up the phone, and went back to Cyborg and Raven.

"So, where were we?"

"Where were you?" Raven shot back.

"Told my boss, Sergent Amy Rohrbach, that I have to help out my kid brother – which I do," he pointed at Robin, "And that I'm super-duper sorry, and all that, she yelled at me, said I needed to take a break anyway, sounded like hell myself, and told me to enjoy my day off."

"Sergent-? You're a cop?" Cyborg asked confused. Nightwing shrugged indifferently, neither confirming nor denying the question. "And Rob really is your brother?"

"In all the ways that count, yes he is my brother. Now, tell me exactly what happened."

**Love? Hate? Wish to set on fire and erase from your brain? Wanna take to the chapel? Let me know!**


	12. I know you know

**Miss me? I've sure missed fanfiction. And downtime in general (heh, YJ pun... lol) I've been super-duper busy with Marching Band and highschool, and my brain has been mush. Hopefully this is a satisfactory 'we're baaaaaaaack!' type deal. lol. enjoy =D**

**Note: Probably a little late for a disclaimer, but uh... disclaim!**

Ch 12

_"So, where were we?"_

_"Where were you?" Raven shot back._

_"Told my boss, Sergent Amy Rohrbach, that I have to help out my kid brother – which I do," he pointed at Robin, "And that I'm super-duper sorry, and all that, she yelled at me, said I needed to take a break anyway, sounded like hell myself, and told me to enjoy my day off."_

_"Sergeant-? You're a cop?" Cyborg asked confused. Nightwing shrugged indifferently, neither confirming nor denying the question. "And Rob really is your brother?"_

_"In all the ways that count, yes he is my brother. Now, tell me exactly what happened."_

"So, let me get this straight: Batman forged a note from the mayor about a psych evaluation, sending good old Doc Leslie to check up on you all and Robby-boy. After pouring your hearts and souls out to her, well, besides Raven," Nightwing quickly amended, "You find out, 'surprise! She left out a few details,' and then the power went out, just as an intruder came in. Robin goes down into the basement, tower goes into lockdown, and you hear screams. Power comes back and you find Robin downstairs all beat up. You call me, I call on you, Robby has a mini-meltdown after temporarily forgetting a good half hour-or-so's time, we discuss good old Pirate-face, pull out some shenanigans, a few movies, and get to where we are now. I miss anything?"

Cyborg just blinked in response. "Uh…"

"There… **was** something else… A note," Raven reluctantly brought up. "I didn't want to worry the others before," she explained, pulling out the note from her belt. Its written in blood, as far as I can tell. Robin's blood."

Nightwing carefully grabbed the note with his gloved hands, unfolding it. He paled immediately at the message: '_Why so serious?' _

"Why can't he just stay dead?" he asked himself. Aloud, he said, "If you weren't sure, this is about the 5th or 6th time he's been 'undead.' Most of the time's it's been phonies, but… this is just rubbing me the wrong way."

"You seem to know Slade as well as we do – and he's tried things like this before – could it be him?" Cyborg suggested, referring back to the 'dust' incident. "He's got brains, but his own tweak style. Recently he's been lying low…"

"Well we can't rule anyone out…" Nightwing admitted, "But it doesn't seem like something he'd do. He's all about personal gain. But we'll add him to the chart."

"Chart?" Cyborg asked in confusion. "What chart?" Nightwing looked at him in shock.

"You've never un-sensibly made lots of flipcharts, thus organizing your thoughts and wasting lots of trees? No funny pictures to go along with it? You haven't lived!"

"Sounds like something Beastboy did a few years back…" Raven said, rolling her eyes.

"Then we'll get along just fine. Trust me, it's helpful. But while the other's are out cold – where's Robin's room?"

"Huh?"

"His room? You know, the dwelling in which he resides on a day to day basis? We gotta search for clues, and what better place to start? If there really wasn't anyone down there, it was probably some form of drug screwing with his head. It could've been administered at any time." Leaning in a bit closer, he added with a wink, "Plus I need the opportunity to be an annoyingly nosy older brother."

Glaring, Raven asked, "Are you taking this seriously or not?" Nightwing's happy demeanor changed instantly.

"There is nothing I take more seriously than my family," he said, honesty dripping from his words. "Look – you've never dealt with the Joker. Whether it's him or not, he's involved, at least partially. He – it's personal. He's hurt a lot of people. A lot of our family. You haven't heard the half of it, or the worst of it.

"Things are going to get bad – you're going to see a side of Robin you've never seen. His human side. It's probably going to scare the crap outa you, to see him so vulnerable. You two especially are going to have to hold this team together. Especially if _he's_ back. And we're going to need all the help we can get."

"… And who exactly do you suggest?" Raven asked, guarding her emotions with her monotonous voice. She was definitely going to need some meditation time…

Pulling out his phone, a smirk adorned his face. "Oh, I've got a few ideas… you kiddies just get some sleep – you're gonna need it. I'll take care of this."

"Uh, shouldn't you be getting some sleep too?" Cyborg reminded.

"Do you have coffee in the tower or a Starbucks nearby?"

"Yes…?"

"Then I'm good to go. Go enjoy fifty winks!"

"I'm not arguing…" with a yawn, Cyborg left. Stubbornly, Raven refused to leave.

"He went to the gates of hell for me. Literally. I can deal with a lack of sleep. Not that I'd be sleeping after everything."

With a shrug, Nightwing reminded, "Hey, it's your home, not mine. Do whatever you'd like." Starting a coffee pot and a tea kettle, (to Raven's surprise) Nightwing sat down across the table from her. He then removed his mask. "Alright, let's get started."

"But you- I mean, why did…?" she wasn't sure what exactly to say. Nightwing raised an eyebrow.

"We both know you know more than you let on. Tim and I keep in touch. He told me you've been in his mind. That was a two way street, and you know that as well as I do, 'Miss Roth.'" Scowling, she removed her hood.

"Alright. So we both know a little too much. While we're at it, I know what you were talking about before. About Jason Todd and Barbara Gordon. What he did to them." Nightwing nodded somberly.

"So you know what this means, if the Joker's back. What the repercussions will be if this gets out." She nodded in response. "Well good. Nice to know not everyone's clueless on this team. No offence."

"None taken. So where do we begin?"

"Lists. Lots of them. Searching start's when everyone's awake. Little details are the important ones. We need to be focused." Raven nodded in agreement.

"Bring it."

An hour later, they had, well, lists. Lists of villains. All villains in general. Ones tech savvy enough to craft some sort of android. Ones good with chemicals, ones capable of causing strong hallucinations, downright crafty ones, smart ones… the lists went on and on. But there weren't just suspect lists.

Evidence lists.

People-that-could-be-helpful-in-the-search-lists.

… And somehow a grocery list ended up there, but hey- they were tired teens. Cheeto cravings were totally normal. Obviously.

At the first sign of the others getting up, Nightwing immediately put his mask back in place, and started… cooking…?

"What are you doing?" slurred the tired-but-too-stubborn-to-admit-it-demoness.

"Makin' breakfast. Most important meal of the day, and all that jazz!" was his cheery response. She glared up at him.

"I hate morning people."

"I love the time difference."

**Not tooo eventful, but hey - some cozy lil revalations and hinteroos. Just some fun to get back in the swing of things :) Love it? Hate it? Wish to beat me to a pulp for the mere suggestion that this chapter was good?**

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